Guess what they are. Hint: A niche market fruit; Thomas Jefferson grew these, and currently less than a 1000 acres of them are grown in the USA.

Quince??

Yeppers.

According to some, quinces were the golden apple of the old testament; just incorrectly transalated. They're much more in vogue in the mid-east and Europe, but I have a great market for them here through the organic network. I have a quince recipe book written by an Albanian woman with over 88 recipes. Someday I'll have to try the lamb-quince stew.

Grand dad had one growing by the barn. He liked quince jelly.

Never heard of them. But TJ is my second favorite president so now I’m off to go google them and probably go down a rabbit hole on Quince

Had that once from a gift basket and liked it really well.
Remembered the Pres TJ thing.
If I'm remembering right lol.

What do they taste like?

Quince eaten raw is very firm and crisp somewhere between a apple and pear in texture. More dry than juice and slighty astringent. Not much to recommend for fresh eating, though reportedly there are cultivars that are more palatable.

Quince historically was used for cooking. Poaching in spiced wine was one common dish. Quince paste is used in quite a few european recipes.

To make jelly you cook it down in a little water then squeeze out the juice, more flavored water. Boil that and add sugar to make your jelly. As grand dad would say you can always add enough sugar to anything to make jelly. Quince is very high in natural pectins so jelly can be more easily made without commercial pectin.

BTW, quince is related to pears and is sometimes used as dwarfing rootstock for pear. Like pear it is susceptible to fire blight.

Yes, quince is pretty standard as a dwarfing rootstock for European pears. Quinces are as hard as a rock and about twice as astringent as a granny smith apple. Add a quince to an apple pie and you have greatly improved it. The aroma that comes off of cooking quinces is to die for.

BTW, for anybody that suffers from acid reflux...quinces will take it out. You just need to eat a little quince daily and it stomps out the bacteria responsible for reflux.

Let us know what impresses you the most about this unusual fruit. Incidentally, at only 150 trees I'm like the 2nd or third largest grower in our state!

cool learned something already to, thanks,

I was selling quince at our farmers market and a few years ago a Ukrainian gal was buying 7-8 every week. Asked her what she was doing with them and she was eating them raw. Imagine that Warrior!

According to what I've read about them, they are very high in anti-oxidants. That's impressive for sure.

Now I kind of want to plant a couple. My wife likes to make jelly so they could be useful for her. Any tips on place to by trees from? They also look beautiful when bloomed out and the neighbors bees would like them for sure

I've eaten them myself. Not what I'd call bad just nothing I'd go out of my way for. Kind of like eating a raw turnip, can be done but much better if cooked. I understand quince is more popular in eastern europe cuisine than in the west.

One Green World or Raintree Nursery both carry them. I would suggest Aromatanaya (sp)?. Really nice cultivar that has less issues with leaf spot than some others.

Who knew....

Thanks peeler.... learned something today

My Grandmother added it to jellies in place of pectin.

My father had one at his house. My mother made jelly from them.